One Of These Days
by stcrmpilot
Summary: In the middle of the Battle of Christophsis, Anakin and Obi-Wan's forces are overwhelmed by the Separatists' droid army, and their rescue ship is shot down. After crashing in the Christophsian wilderness with twenty remaining clones, the Jedi must get themselves and their troops back to the city before the Separatists can catch up to them.
1. Chapter 1

"Anakin! On your right!"

Anakin whirled around, not bothering to look, and sliced the head right off the approaching droid. It fell to the ground with a satisfying clank. He turned to Obi-Wan and grinned.

"All gone," he announced, clipping his lightsaber back on his belt. Obi-Wan gave him a withering look.

"I feel I should point out that there is, no doubt, another wave coming," he said, gesturing over the river at the Separatists' current stronghold.

"Well," Anakin sighed, "this one's gone at least."

"Generals?" called Rex. He stood at the edge of the bridge, holding his blaster and a pair of electrobinoculars. "I think you need to see this."

Obi-Wan hurried over, taking care not to trip over the cut-up droids and debris lying on the ground. He heard Anakin following behind, kicking droid parts where he could.

"What's happening?" he asked.

Rex handed him the electrobinoculars. "The next wave is way stronger than the last. Super battle droids, droidekas, tanks. We don't have enough troopers left to hold our ground."

Obi-Wan scanned the horizon. Though the distinctive crystalline skyscrapers of Christophsis blocked most of the view, he could see hints of the sunset in the background; it would be dark in a few hours. The buildings were more or less intact, save for those the Separatists had destroyed to drive out the Christophsians. There wasn't a single sign of natural life, the native plants and animals unable to survive in the bustling city. Even the usual insects and small avians seemed to have deserted the battlefield.

Among the skyscrapers marched a fresh group of hundreds of varied Separatist weapons, quickly approaching the river that divided the two armies. About fifteen hundred in all, Obi-Wan guessed. He turned back to their camp.

On their side of the river, broken transperisteel littered the steps to the former Separatist stronghold, which they'd overpowered mere hours ago. Chunks of crystal and duracrete lay among droid parts and the bodies of their own forces. Fifty-odd clone troopers were left, regrouping, helping their wounded and scavenging weapons cartridges off the dead. Anakin was talking to Cody, tossing his lightsaber and catching it again over and over, looking more relaxed than anyone in the middle of a battle should. Obi-Wan felt a twinge of amusement.

"You're right," he told Rex, "we need to retreat right away. Anakin!"

His former apprentice stopped messing with his lightsaber and left his conversation to join them. "Yeah?"

"When do the troop transports arrive? We have to evacuate before the droids get here."

Anakin frowned. "Actually, they should be here."

"Comm the admiral, see where they got to."

Before Anakin could turn on his comlink, Obi-Wan felt a prickle down the back of his neck. _Something's wrong._ He reached for his lightsaber on instinct and looked up.

"Ah. Found them."

Anakin followed his gaze. There were two ships, distant but coming in fast, pursued by half a dozen vulture droids firing madly in their direction. Obi-Wan could feel the growing panic of the pilots and gunners as they tried to shoot the droids down without success.

"We'll have to move out fast," Anakin shouted, running back to the clones. "Get ready to go, men!"

Blaster bolts from the droids' heavy cannons were starting to fly in, blowing large chunks out of the sidewalk. Obi-Wan raised his lightsaber and braced himself, ready to deflect them. The clones rushed to gather their weapons and supplies, taking cover behind piles of rubble as they waited for the rescue ships to land.

Anakin reached up toward a vulture droid and Obi-Wan felt him pull on it through the Force.  
"Obi-Wan!" Anakin called. "Give me a hand!"

Obi-Wan extended his hand as well, working with him to send it careening into another attacker. Both crashed to the ground in a smoking heap.

 _Nice,_ Anakin thought in his direction.

One gunship shot down two more droids in quick succession and, deciding it would have to do, moved in to land. The second followed it down. The towering vulture droids landed too, crawling towards the Jedi and their troops. _That's not good,_ Obi-Wan thought. He glanced at Anakin, who was ushering a group of clones onto the ship, and knew they wouldn't be done fast enough. _Very not good._

Anakin spotted him, standing ready to face off with the droids, and abandoned his post.

"Take over!" he yelled, and leapt at the droids.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan protested, but Anakin was already slicing at the droids' legs. He bit back an order, gave a sigh of frustration and sprinted for the gunship. Cody and Rex stood at the doors, pulling clones inside as the ship started to take off. He jumped in to help them, thankful at least that they were no longer under fire. One last clone pulled himself up, barely making it on board before the ship took everyone into the air. _Well, not everyone,_ Obi-Wan grumbled silently.

Anakin dodged a shot from one droid and sprang onto the back of the other. He dug his lightsaber into its circuits and backflipped off only to find himself under a fresh assault, losing his ground as he lunged away from bolt after bolt. He stumbled over a piece of duracrete and the droid took the opportunity to shoot again, coming too close for him to dodge. Forced to deflect the high-energy bolt with his lightsaber, he went sprawling backwards on the ground.

He looked up, seeing the ship slowly rising into the air, and scrambled away from the droid to half-jump, half-throw himself into the air. Obi-Wan caught him by the arm and pulled him in just as the pilot angled the ship up and away from the planet, sprinting for the safety of the capital ships in the sky above. They both breathed a sigh of relief.

Anakin slumped against the door, panting. He glanced up to see Obi-Wan's disapproving expression and gave a short laugh.

"Aw, come on," he said. "Someone had to do it."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "One of these days, Anakin, you're going to get yourself killed."

The ship gave a shudder, and the moment of relief was over. All the passengers waited tensely as the sound of blasterfire echoed through the compartment. Then there was an explosion, rocking the ship and making a few clones stumble.

"We got the last clanker!" shouted the gunner. Obi-Wan felt the tension ease considerably as the clones gave scattered applause and cheers.

"So, what's the next step?" Anakin asked anyone who was listening.

"We'll need more forces and provisions," Rex answered. "The Separatists will take back their stronghold and they still have the city under siege. If we can get back to the ground quickly enough with more troopers I think we can take the base again and force them back across the river."

The clones discussed plans among themselves for several more minutes, but Obi-Wan found himself distracted. Yet again, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go wrong. He waited anxiously, but the flight was going along smooth and uninterrupted. He was about to dismiss it when Anakin suddenly stopped talking, clearly focused on something other than the conversation.

"You feel it too," Obi-Wan said. He nodded.

"Feel wha–" Cody was cut off by a deafening bang, followed by a shrieking alarm from the cabin. The ship filled with smoke and voices that got all the louder when the lights flickered and went out. Another explosion threw them all to the ground and Obi-Wan heard the distinct sound of something ripping away from the ship. He pulled himself to his feet and stumbled to the cabin.

"Sketch! What's happening?" he demanded. He crouched, trying to get low enough to see through the window. His blood ran cold.

A fresh fleet of Separatist battleships had appeared in the sky, silhouetted by the system's sun. Dozens of vulture droids swarmed towards their ship, making passes and firing when they got close enough.

"They know we're dead meat," Anakin said, startling him. Obi-Wan hadn't noticed his appearance. "Any second now, they'll attack for real."

"General Kenobi, I don't think we can break through this," Sketch said through gritted teeth. "What do we do?"

Another shot hit and drained the ship's shields, starting up a second alarm. Sketch turned the ship away from the droids, hoping to buy some time. Obi-Wan could sense Anakin staring expectantly at him, waiting for a plan.

The comlink crackled abruptly. "Is anyone there? Generals?"

"Admiral Yularen?" Anakin asked over the noise.

"Skywalker! What's happening down there?" the admiral demanded. The sounds of another battle could be heard in the background.

"They sent out new vulture droids, we're not going to be able to punch through. We need backup."

The sounds of the firefight were constant now, the droids attacking in earnest.

"We're being overwhelmed, there are too many of them," Yularen said. "We need to retreat, or we'll be wiped out."

"We still need to get up there!" Anakin exclaimed. "Are you saying you're leaving us here?"

"Admiral we have more than twenty men on board this ship. We need you to send help," Obi-Wan interrupted.

"I'm doing as much as I can, but you need to hurry!" he ordered. "I cannot sacrifice my entire fleet for–"

A bright flash of yellow and white blossomed over the viewports and the ship pitched sideways with the horrible screech of ripping metal. The comm went dead. Obi-Wan was flung to the floor, Anakin landing on top of him. Over the ringing in his ears he could hear the shouts of the clone troopers as, unlike the last hit, the ship didn't right itself but kept spinning, falling back toward the planet.

"Sketch?" Anakin growled, heaving himself off the other Jedi.

"I can't get it under control!" Sketch growled. "We're going to crash!"

"Move over," he ordered, taking the yoke from the clone. Obi-Wan made his way back to the main compartment, gripping the handrails tightly.

"General!" yelled Rex, but he was crushed against the wall before he could say anything more.

"Everyone hold on, we're going down!" he shouted. Rex and Cody took over, quickly giving orders to the troops, and he went back to the front. Anakin was frantically flipping switches and tearing through the inner workings of the ship.

"Obi-Wan, you're back. Hand me that tool," he said, gesturing vaguely to the box on the floor next to him.

"Which one?" Obi-Wan asked, sifting through the box. There were at least a dozen in the box, and more on the floor around his feet.

"The pliers!" Anakin exclaimed, as if it were obvious. He pulled a wire out of an open panel and let it hang there, sparking, as he yanked back and forth on a switch.

"There are three pairs of pliers!" Obi-Wan shouted back.

"The sharp ones!"

He spotted a pair with a sharp point on the end and shoved them into Anakin's hand. Anakin dug them into the open panel and rooted around, eyes firmly fixed on the display, until he seemed to find what he was looking for and gave a sharp turn of his wrist. The engines coughed and flared up, whining, levelling the ship just enough to land without exploding. Obi-Wan released the breath he'd been holding.

"Okay, at least now we won't die," Anakin remarked. "Maybe."

"Wonderful," Obi-Wan replied dryly, strapping himself into the copilot's seat. The ship was shaking as if on the verge of flying apart, wind buffeting it from all sides. The ground rushed towards them, and he knew they were going much too fast for a controlled landing. He had expected nothing less; after all, Anakin was flying.

"We're coming in," Anakin said tensely.

"Brace yourselves!" he called back to the hold.

"Brace!" Rex repeated, and the clones scrambled for something, anything to hang on to in the overcrowded ship.

 _Too late._

Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes shut as the ship ploughed into the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

Obi-Wan was thrown forward in his restraints, then sideways, and back again, the belts pressing his armour painfully into his chest. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Anakin, gripping the yoke until his knuckles turned white. In that moment, it was like nothing else existed. The ship was spinning and bouncing along the glassy terrain, clanging with every apparatus that snapped off as it ground to a slow halt, making an ear-splitting screech where metal met crystal.

The wreck jolted and stopped. The quiet pinging of cooling durasteel cut the silence. Obi-Wan kept his grip on the armrests, breathing hard. His ears were ringing. He didn't dare move on the chance the ship was somehow not done assaulting them. The transparisteel viewport was so cracked that he couldn't see through it, and the cabin didn't have a single intact button or dial. All the lights had died or been smashed, the only illumination coming from the faint glow of the setting sun and the occasional electrical spark. Smoke curled gently from compartments crumpled and forced ajar, bringing with it the smell of fire and dust. The only sound he could hear was his own heart, just starting to slow.

"General? General!" shouted Rex.

The world snapped into sharp focus. Obi-Wan threw off his restraints and stood up, hunched over in the crushed cabin. In an instant he felt every ache and pain he'd sustained; his head pounded, his chest felt like a reek had stepped on it. As he lifted his hand to brush his hair out of the way, he felt blood running down his cheek.

"I'm here," he called through the mangled doorway. "Is everything okay?" He picked his way over the broken glass and scattered tools towards the clones.

"The reactor's breached," Rex answered. "There's a fuel leak. You need to get out here."

Obi-Wan looked around at the loose wires and exposed inner workings of the ship. _Oh, that's bad._

He remembered Anakin. The younger Jedi hadn't moved from his seat, head hanging limply and lower body pinned by the ship's console.

"Anakin!" He rushed back and tried to shake him awake. He didn't respond, but a quick examination with the Force told Obi-Wan he wasn't seriously injured. "I really needed more to deal with today," he grumbled.

The ship gave a strained groan. Voices echoed from the hold as the clones evacuated, dragging cargo containers of supplies with them. Obi-Wan worked at the seat restraints as fast as possible, struggling to get Anakin untangled from the belts. His hands shook as he yanked on the twisted buckle, sensing the growing danger.

"Come on, help me out," he muttered to Anakin, who did not. With a growl of frustration, he pulled out his lightsaber and flicked it on, cutting the harness apart with a careful hand.

"General!"

"What is it, Rex?" Obi-Wan shouted. He knelt down and cut a hole in the torn, jagged metal bent around Anakin's leg. Blood had soaked into the fabric of his trouser leg, trickling from a deep gash across his calf. Wincing at the injury, he lowered him down out of the chair.

"You have to leave! What's taking so long?" Rex's voice moved around the outside of the ship as he and his men gathered up the supplies.

"I need another minute!" Obi-Wan noticed the smell of fuel in the cabin. He grabbed Anakin by the arms and started dragging him as fast as he could into the main compartment of the ship. Both doors were bent and twisted; the right one had been wedged shut, the left was cracked open only a few feet. He caught a glimpse of white armour moving outside and stood up fully, thankful for the struts that had kept the roof up.

"General!"

"Yes?"

Then there was fire all over, leaping from the ground and crawling up the inside of the cabin. Obi-Wan stumbled backwards in surprise, dropping Anakin to the floor. The flames licked along the trails of spilled fuel, spreading through the ship until they were cut off from the cabin, isolated in the burning room. Painful heat and smoke washed over him, stinging the cut on his cheek and provoking a new throbbing in his head. He fought down a fit of coughing as he leaned down to pick up the unconscious Jedi. Only by drawing on the Force could he stand up again.

Rex and Cody were shouting at him from outside, almost muted by the roar of the fire.

"Why do you always get to be the unconscious one?" he grunted, trying not to breathe too much as the air became more fumes than oxygen. He took laboured steps toward the doors – his head was starting to spin dangerously, and the ship's tilt wasn't helping. Barely able to avoid tripping on tools and parts scattered on the floor by the crash, he made it to the exit.

The rumble of the fire sounded all around as it crept over the hull and danced around the engine, poised to blow the ship to pieces. Obi-Wan jumped from the bent floor to the ground and almost fell to his knees. He strained to stay on his feet and get them both away from the wreck.

Rex let out a shout when he spotted them and waved two clone troopers over to help. Sketch took Anakin; Punch lent his arm to Obi-Wan for support but he waved the clone off, working to catch his breath and regain his bearings.

"Everybody back!" Cody ordered, dragging Rex away from his efforts to grab a medkit near the door. Obi-Wan turned around in time to see the flames touch the engines and erupt, ripping them to shreds like a bomb going off. It tossed the two clones to the ground without effort, leaving scorch marks in their armour. The shockwave hit him a fraction of a second later like a kick to the chest and he stumbled, winded. He walked falteringly over to Rex and Cody and helped them up, wincing at the ache in his lungs.

"You okay, General?" Rex asked, pulling off his helmet to look at the decimated ship. He squinted at the bright blaze.

"I'm f-" Obi-Wan was interrupted by a bout of coughing; he leaned over to rest his hand on his knee. "I'm fine." He remembered in a momentary flash of panic that his charge wasn't with him. "Where's Anakin?"

"He's okay, Coric's got him."

"I'm gonna go find out what we have left," Cody said. Rex nodded in acknowledgement, and he left for the stack of crates.

"Is everyone else alright?" Obi-Wan asked.

"There are a few injuries. Nothing that can't be patched up."

"Good." He shifted his attention to the scene around him. They'd landed in a small clearing surrounded by a sparse forest of delicate, spindly trees, none taller than him. The city was nowhere to be seen, the skyscrapers replaced by spires of untouched crystal, shooting out of the ground in irregular clusters.

To his left, the sun was nearly set, casting long shadows across the glade. Only a small sliver of brilliant red blazed through the gap between the horizon and a thick bank of pink-tinged clouds, which had not been visible from the city. They left the rest of the sky a deep, velvety blue, dark enough that the stars were starting to show.

The clones were scattered all around the clearing, cleaning their weapons or taking stock of what they had left. Most of them had gathered around the fire, trying to put it out before any salvageable goods were burned beyond use. A disheartened calm had settled over the group; the adrenaline had faded and now their situation was sinking in. Obi-Wan could sense the troops' anxious questions, and knew he would have to find a way to get their spirits up. He cringed at the thought: he wasn't, in truth, one for rallying.

Rex was tampering with his transmitter. "No signal," he sighed.

Obi-Wan glanced around the darkening camp. He spotted Anakin and Coric on the ground near a glowlamp and felt a rush of relief. The medic was working quickly through a small queue of troopers waiting for medical attention.

"Rex, if you'll excuse me, I should go see to Anakin," he said, already posed to walk away from the captain.

"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna see if I can get this thing working."

Obi-Wan gave him a quick nod and strode off to the makeshift hospital station.

"General," Coric greeted him, as he crouched next to the tarp being used as a mattress. "He'll wake up soon," he assured before he could be asked.

"Thank you, Coric," Obi-Wan said.

Anakin lay on his back, one arm draped across his chest. His right leg was awkwardly bent towards the clone and the bloodied fabric of his pants had been rolled up, revealing the freshly-cleaned wound stretching at least three inches diagonally down his calf. Coric was rooting through his backpack, assembling a small collection of supplies. He grabbed a clean washcloth and dabbed away the fresh blood seeping out of the cut, which, to Obi-Wan's relief, didn't seem to be deep enough to cause permanent damage. A quick once-over with the laser cauterizer was enough to close it, followed by one of his limited supply of bacta bandages, all done with the efficiency that came with a lifetime of repetition.

"Give it a couple days, it'll heal up fine," Coric said, rolling down the tattered remainder of Anakin's pant leg.

Obi-Wan felt a little prick of awareness in the back of his mind; he looked down to see Anakin's eyes flicker open. Almost immediately he squeezed them shut again, turning away from the light with a quiet groan. Blinking, he tried to sit up to look around, but Obi-Wan pressed him back down.

"Ugh. My head hurts," he muttered, focusing on his former Master leaning over him.

"Yes, well, that's what happens when you crash ships and get yourself knocked unconscious," Obi-Wan chided.

"Oh, shut up." He pushed himself slowly into his elbows and then into a vaguely upright position, under the concerned eye of the other Jedi. Spotting the bandage, he gave an experimental flex and winced. "Guess that wasn't the sturdiest ship in the fleet."

"'Fraid not, General," Coric said, suppressing a smile. "Hold still." He pressed a small hypospray to the side of Anakin's neck and pressed the plunger. He put it into a small pouch on his utility belt, in the absence of a biodisposal unit. Anakin rubbed at his neck, pleased to find his headache disappearing.

"So... what exactly did happen to the, uh, ship?" Anakin asked, as if he were once again a Padawan facing punishment for accidentally blowing up one of his projects.

Obi-Wan pointed behind him. Although the fire was mostly out, clouds of black smoke still drifted through the air. The wreck gave a pop every once in a while as it cooled; it now looked more like something Anakin had tried to cook than a ship.

"Ah..." Anakin cringed. "Oops?"

Obi-Wan gave a short laugh. "Come on." He stood, offering Anakin a hand.

"I'm fine." Anakin pushed himself to his feet, tentatively putting weight on his injured leg. He gritted his teeth at the deep ache.

"Are you sure?" Obi-Wan pressed, his hands automatically moving to support him.

"Yeah, yeah." He looked around the clearing. "Do we know where we are?"

"Nowhere near any cities. Rex is trying to get his transmitter working. Hopefully we can get a message out."

"Oh, let me see." Anakin was always up for tinkering with electronics.

Obi-Wan smiled to see his enthusiasm; it was always endearing, and now refreshing, considering they were stranded in the wilderness of a planet at war. They walked over to the cargo containers, where Rex was standing and fiddling with a hand-sized device.

"General Skywalker! Up already?" he remarked, surprised.

"No sense lying around all day," Anakin said.

"Funny. At the Temple that's all you ever do," Obi-Wan pointed out.

Anakin scoffed. "Any luck with the transmitter?"

"No, sir," Rex answered. "We're too far out to get a signal to anyone."

"I figured. But here–" Anakin sat on one of the crates, holding his leg stiffly away from his body.

Rex handed him the transmitter and a small glowrod. He tapped quickly on the screen and gave a hum of appreciation, then set it down and started fiddling with his gauntlet.

"We can't contact anyone, but we can at least find out where we are," he mumbled, focused on his work. "See, it's simple. We just need…" He pulled up several strings of numbers and letters on the transmitter, information easily decoded by authorized devices, and sent it all to his wrist comm. "…the record of our coordinates," he finished. "So we can figure out where we need to go, and how far the city is."

 _Huh,_ Obi-Wan thought, as Anakin picked up the other device and worked at finding somewhere to attach the wires. _Why didn't I think of that?_

"Everyone knows you're better with the living Force, Master, I wouldn't beat myself up about it," Anakin said, sensing his silent compliment.

Obi-Wan glared at him. "Stop doing that."

Rex looked on in confusion.

"There we are! Two sets of coordinates," Anakin announced. "Master, you might want to write this down."

"With what?"

"There's a datapad somewhere."

Rex grabbed it off a crate. "Here."

"Fifty-one point zero four eight six degrees north," Anakin read, "one hundred fourteen point zero seven zero eight degrees west."

"And the other?"

"Fifty-three point five three three three north, by one hundred thirteen point five zero zero zero west."

Obi-Wan finished typing and instructed the datapad to run the calculations. He stiffened as it displayed the answer, a movement so slight that only Anakin picked up on it.

"What? Did you get it?" Anakin asked, leaning as far as he could without falling off his seat.

"Yes. Seven-hundred and seventy-eight klicks," he replied.

"What? Are you sure?" Rex questioned, incredulous. "I mean, really sure?"

"I am afraid so," said Obi-Wan. His voice was calm, demeanor impassive, but inwardly his mind was turning. It was a daunting figure; unprecedented, even. Would they have enough rations? Water? What was waiting for them across 800 klicks of Christophsian wilderness?

"Come on, it's not that bad," Anakin offered. "What's that, ten days of walking? Nine?"

"If we're lucky."

A long pause. He set his jaw. "Well, we can't just sit here until we starve to death," he said decisively. "You're in charge, Obi-Wan. What do we do?"

Obi-Wan took a moment to think. "We all need rest," he began. "I think we should set up camp for the night, eat and recover. In the morning we can pack up as many of these crates as possible and… start walking, I suppose."

Anakin clapped his hand onto Obi-Wan's shoulder. "That's the spirit," he said. He stood slowly, leaning against the containers. "Now I say we find that 'something to eat'. I'm starving."

Rex nodded in agreement and they split up to dig through the piles, but Obi-Wan didn't join them. Somewhat regretfully, he left the two to their search and headed over to Cody and the clones.

"Fire's all out, General," the commander told him with a loose salute. "We couldn't salvage anything else, though," he added, throwing the ship a disappointed look.

"I believe we'll have enough food and water for the walk," Obi-Wan said. "Are all the men okay?"

"They'll be fine. Ones burnt his hand; he's over with Coric now. We also have one broken arm and a couple head injuries."

With the light of the fire gone, their clearing was illuminated only by a couple portable lights and the glow of the asteroid belts. Even though they were comparatively far from the planet, to Obi-Wan they looked as close as a layer of clouds, sparkling like a river of kyber crystals. They were impossibly bright, giving off a light cleaner and purer than anything one could see from civilization. He could imagine the Republic fleet drifting near the mineral-rich rocks, wondering where their Jedi had gotten to. A touch of concern stirred in him – what if they really couldn't make it?

"Shall we set up camp for the night?" he asked Cody, pushing his thoughts out of the way.

"I'll get some troopers," Cody said. Obi-Wan figured they'd welcome something to do.

A laugh sounded from across the glade. Anakin and Rex had found their food and were talking animatedly, seemingly in high spirits. His stomach grumbled, despite the fact that the two were probably joking about the quality of the vacuum-sealed meals, judging from the faces they made.

He walked over to the stacks of boxes, hoping to find some sort of bedding.

"Hey!" Anakin greeted him. "Come for food?"

"No. Some of us do have work to do," he quipped.

Rex sighed and set down his packet. "General's right. We can eat later."

Anakin gave him a betrayed scowl, holding it long enough to make one wonder whether he would comply or not. "Fine," he conceded. He shoved one last spoonful of the rations into his mouth and pushed himself out of his seat, suppressing a wince as he stood. Obi-Wan remembered his leg and felt guilty.

"Here," he offered, steadying him by the shoulder. He opened the closest box to them, trying not to stray from his job as a support column; to his luck, it was stuffed to the brim with inflatable mattresses.

"Got some tents!" Rex announced, holding up two bundles of fabric. "It's like they expected us to crash, with this much stuff on board."

"Well, it wasn't really meant for us," Anakin remarked. "We were supposed to stay on the planet for a lot longer. The whole rescue thing was completely improvised, I think this ship was supposed to be going to Ryloth."

"Ah, that would explain that," Obi-Wan said. "Look. Here comes Cody now."

"Found anything good?" he asked as he approached them, trailed by Punch and Gus.

"Plenty." Rex tossed each of the clones a tent. "We'll be comfortable tonight, at least, if not for the rest of our little trek." He grabbed an armful of deflated sleep palates and followed Cody's group to find a good spot to sleep.

Obi-Wan sat Anakin back down on the crates, ignoring his protests that he could help. "There are plenty of people on that job, you can finish eating now," he insisted.

"You haven't eaten," Anakin argued.

"I'm not hungry," he lied.

Anakin raised an eyebrow.

"There's only so much food, and many people who need it more than I do," Obi-Wan stated, abandoning his previous defence.

"Alright Mr. Hero, go off and inflate those mattresses. I'm sure our brave soldiers will thank you profusely for unscrewing the seal for them," Anakin teased, looking up at the Jedi through his eyelashes as he took a bite of his meal. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and left Anakin alone as he laughed to himself.

It didn't take long to get the tents up and the mattresses laid out; they finished not a moment too soon, because not only was the temperature dropping, but Anakin had taken to mocking him from his seat every time he passed by.

After several such teasings, Obi-Wan finally snapped, "Whatever you say, 'Chosen One'."

"But... I am the Chosen One," he responded, cocking his head confusedly. Rex gave a laugh, quickly suppressed at Obi-Wan's glare.

"C'mon, lighten up," Anakin said, tossing him a thermal blanket.

"'Lighten up'? Anakin–"

"Let's just go to sleep," he interrupted. "We can worry in the morning."

Obi-Wan felt a flash of annoyance. It seemed as if he wasn't taking the situation seriously at all. _But it is late. And getting colder…_

"Fine," he decided. "Rex, you can go ahead and fit as many people as you can into the tents, especially anyone who's been injured. Cody, organize a watch."

"Are you sleeping in a tent?" Anakin asked him, pulling himself up and limping over to the centre of the excitement. "Y'know, as the officer in command and all."

"No, I'm fine with being outside. Better that someone else have the spot," Obi-Wan answered, fully prepared for more mockery.

"Does 'anyone who's been injured' include me?" he asked as the clones gave their acknowledgements and left.

Obi-Wan cast him a sidelong glance. "Sure," he allowed, gathering together a pile of blankets. Anakin grinned and went for the closest tent to pick out his spot, but stopped a few feet away, his expression turning to one of guilt.

"Actually," he said, drawing out the word, "I think I'll sleep outside with you. Let one of the troopers have my spot."

 _You're injured. You really should be inside,_ Obi-Wan almost said; he held back, allowing Anakin his belated attempt at nobility. "Alright," he agreed instead, and turned his back to hide a small smile.

With impressive speed, Rex and Cody had gotten the clones a packet of food and were starting to pile them into the tents. Each tent was meant for five but would be holding eight, as there weren't enough blankets to go around and it was getting much too cold to be outside without one. With eighteen clones, two unlucky men would have to sleep outside with the Jedi.

"We'll need a watch," Anakin mused. He turned to Obi-Wan and raised an eyebrow in question. "Up for it?"

"I am. You aren't," he answered. "You are injured and you need sleep."

"But what if something happens?"

"Then I'll wake you. Not before."

"What if you die before you can wake me? Huh? What then?"

"Anakin–"

"No, I get it. You don't want me there. Fine," Anakin sniffed, crossing his arms and looking away in feigned betrayal.

Obi-Wan fixed him with a dry glare. "I'll want you there once your leg is better," he repeated.

Anakin gave a heavy sigh. "Alright." He trudged off to the crates and grabbed a flare kit, busying himself with turning the explosives into a non-deadly fire.

Obi-Wan took stock again of his surroundings, looking for a good place for the patrol to sit. Deciding the empty mattresses by the edge of the clearing would do fine, he waved Punch over to join him on the first shift. Reluctant though they were to stay up any later than necessary, the three settled down in their chosen spots, thermal blankets wrapped around their shoulders and holding a glowrod each to see by. The rest of the makeshift camp was silent and still now, everyone having either piled into a tent or gone to sleep outside. Anakin's fire lit up the small circle of those sleeping outside; of them, he was the only one still awake, his eyes tracking the dancing of the flames and the thin trails of smoke that curled up into the air.

Obi-Wan could sense that Anakin was troubled by something, his thoughts tossing and turning as much as he was. Absently wondering what about, he scanned the darkened, spindly trees for danger. It would be a bad idea to pry, he decided.

Although he tried to focus on his job, Obi-Wan's attention kept getting dragged away. Every time he found his thoughts wandering, his eyes seemed to return to the night sky. Having grown up on Coruscant, where the stars were never visible over the immense amount of light pollution, this black landscape was a treasure to him. Even on other planets, in other remote locations, he couldn't remember a scene as beautiful as this one. This one, where the twinkling belt of blue and white and red and orange was as sharp and clear as if it were three feet from his eyes. Where the stars and asteroids were strewn across the sky from pole to pole like drops of paint flung from a brush, snaking through the void of space. This one was special.

"Looking at the stars?" Punch asked, his voice hushed by the cold and the silence.

"Yes."

"They're really something, eh?"

"Oh, yes."

 _Yes, they really are something,_ Obi-Wan thought, staring upwards without regard for the soreness in his neck.

Once their shift ended, Obi-Wan noticed that Anakin had finally fallen asleep, watching his fire. He lay down on his back on the inflatable mattress and fell asleep himself, gazing at the sky.


	3. Chapter 3

Obi-Wan woke to a dreadful shrieking. He sat bolt upright before his eyes were even properly open, desperate to know what was happening but too disoriented to process anything. Already his heart pounded in his chest, urging him to come to his senses and act, but that was difficult while still trying to get untangled. Blindly, he grabbed at his blanket and tried to push it off, but he had managed to wrap himself up in a fabric cocoon. He had just enough time to get free and shout an incoherent question before his eyes finally focused on the source of the commotion. He froze.

Anakin was lying on his back beside him, blanket laid neatly over his body, a look of utter abhorrence on his face. Obi-Wan thought for a moment his eyes must be mistaken. It took a moment before he was sure he was indeed looking at his former apprentice, and then he realized he might never have seen Anakin in such apparent distress, let alone for such a reason.

On his chest perched an animal barely bigger than his head; it was blue, with short, wiry fur all over its stumpy body, and a turned-up snout like that of a womp rat. It was sniffing at his face with its pointy little nose, as if it had hoped to turn this warm lump into a nice nest and was surprised to find a Jedi under there. Obi-Wan, still half asleep, had no thoughts on the situation except bewilderment and hadn't even noticed that Anakin seemed to have gone into a paralysis. This gave his brain a solid ten seconds to catch up before Anakin frantically began pushing the creature off of his torso, accidentally punching it several times and bundling it up thoroughly inside his blanket in the process.

In a last-ditch attempt, Anakin managed to fling the animal off and started scrambling away on all fours. He didn't get very far; as soon as he left his sleeping pad, he found himself slipping on the loose dirt like a droid trying to walk up a sand dune. He might have just kept going, all the way back to Coruscant, but his knee caught on a stray chunk of starship hull and he went sprawling face-first into the dirt. A small swirl of dust rose around him and settled on his back.

Broken out of his panic, he let out a pained groan and pushed himself onto his elbows. That was when he spotted Obi-Wan, staring at him with bemusement.

"It's not… that thing, it–" Anakin stammered, jumping to his feet and pointing at the murine creature, scandalized.

"Of course," Obi-Wan said earnestly.

The diminutive beast was struggling to free itself from Anakin's blanket, snuffling along the ground as it searched for an exit.

A loud rustling sounded from the closest tent, accompanied by a bark of annoyance and a loud thump that told of just how prepared the crowded clones would have been, had there been an actual emergency. Cody was the first one to come tumbling out; he glanced around wildly for the danger before his gaze settled on the Jedi. A look of confusion crossed his face.

Rex staggered outside, managing to stay on his feet and yank his helmet out of the fray, unlike the next three troopers to fall out. "General! What's going on?"

Anakin didn't answer – perhaps didn't even hear – as he was wrapped up in trying to get his blanket back. Obi-Wan, finally processing the full ridiculousness of the situation, started to snicker. He pressed his hand over his mouth.

The critter underneath found the edge of the blanket and poked out its pink nose, taking a deep sniff before deciding it was safe to nuzzle all the way out. Clearly proud of regaining its freedom, it lifted its muzzle up to the wind and let its whiskers flutter as it surveyed all the spectators, looking quite elegant for something with such short legs and such a stout body.

Anakin, mouth set in a line, cautiously edged his way towards the animal, reaching out slowly for his blanket. He snatched it up and retreated, angrily brushing off the blue fur that evidenced it had been sleeping on him for some time.

The rat, having gotten attached to the blanket, was not happy to lose it. It bristled its sparse fur and hissed at the Jedi. Obi-Wan was desperately trying not to laugh at this point, tears welling in his eyes. Anakin would be offended enough already.

Rex and Cody stood in front of their downed troops, mouths agape. It didn't look as if they had really understood anything that just happened. Cody shut his mouth, pursed his lips and frowned at the scene before him, trying very hard to make sense of what he saw.

Then the creature made a run for its new possession, charging at Anakin's ankles at maximum speed – which, given its barrel-like build and stubby legs, wasn't all that fast. Anakin let out a shout of surprise and hurled the blanket back at his attacker, who was immediately satisfied and decided to stay where he was, curled up under the covering. In the silence of the clearing, a quiet huff could be heard from the bundle.

Rex burst out howling. Cody was trying so hard not to laugh out loud his entire face was turning red. Obi-Wan doubled over to hide his face from Anakin, struggling to breathe through the fits of laughter. The clones on the ground worked at untangling themselves, freeing the way for the rest of the occupants of the tent to witness General Skywalker's battle. Identical faces poked out of the tents now, some confused, having missed most of the action, and some in hysterics. Rex seemed to be slowly collapsing, grasping at Cody's arm for support as he tried to catch his breath.

"You alright there, General?" he gasped.

Anakin scowled. "Fine, Captain."

Obi-Wan didn't miss the flush of embarrassment in his cheeks. He shed his blanket the rest of the way and stood, careful to avoid stepping on the animal and its makeshift home.

"It was probably time to wake up anyway," he consoled, wiping the tears off his face with a wide grin.

"It startled me," Anakin growled, crossing his arms tightly.

Cody pulled Rex back to his feet. "Alright everyone, get back inside. Get your armour on. It's about time we got going," he ordered, although Rex was still cackling.

The clones filed into their tents, snickering amongst themselves. Anakin angrily swatted at the dirt on his flight suit, lip curled into a snarl.

"I didn't even know there were wild animals on this rock," he grumbled.

"Come to think of it, I don't think we were ever told there were. This could complicate things."

"Huh?" He snatched his sleeping pad away from the rat and started rolling it up.

"Well, if there are small predators like your new friend, perhaps there are large ones too."

"I wouldn't worry about it. We've dealt with worse."

Obi-Wan's brows twitched into a frown. He didn't like Anakin's dismissive attitude; he couldn't say it was unexpected, given his unfortunate encounter, but he didn't like it. The younger Jedi should know better than most that it was a recipe for disaster.

He picked up his thermal blanket and folded it neatly before letting the air out of his pallet. By then the clones had sorted themselves out and started disassembling the tents. They were in good spirits from Anakin's brush with danger, lips turned up in relaxed smirks and faces still flushed. It was unusual to see the soldiers with crinkles in the corners of their eyes rather than grimaces of concentration – or pain – but it was decidedly heartening. A good start to a day which, by Obi-Wan's estimation, could only go downhill.

"We should unpack these cargo containers," he suggested, looking up at Anakin. "It would probably help us know what to bring and what to leave behind."

"Good idea. I'll get a couple troopers on that."

Anakin stood up, edging around his blanket, and walked over to the tents. They were spread out on the ground, ready to be folded up into their bags – one with more difficulty than the other, apparently, as Cody and Rex were having a heated argument over how to pack their bag. Obi-Wan smiled to himself and picked up his sleeping gear to deliver it to the piles near the edge of the clearing. He paused for a moment, and looked at their makeshift camp for the first real time.

In the light, it was wholly different. The short, delicate trees did not look like trees at all, as with the added light he could see that they were actually translucent in all but the thickest parts, dyed in shades of purple and blue. A slight morning frost, mostly turned to dew by the rising sun, left glistening droplets of water hanging from the tips of the crystalline branches. They were picturesque, reminding Obi-Wan of a chandelier the likes of which belonged in the Galactic Senate building back on Coruscant. And though they looked like gemstone, he could feel the life in them just as much as Anakin's assailant.

How many other species resided here that they hadn't been told of? The briefing had barely touched on the Christophsis that existed outside the cities. There would be plenty more surprises waiting for them, he was sure.

He turned around with a helpless shake of his head and walked over to where Anakin, Rex and Cody were unpacking the cargo containers. The majority of the clones had joined them, now that the tent dispute had been resolved. He glanced briefly at the array of dried food packages, medical supplies, water purifiers and most things in between. Most notable, arguably, was the series of vibroblades leaned against a tent bag, clearly provided for the Ryloth team to navigate the jungles of the Twi'lek homeworld.

"Hey, Obi-Wan, look at this!" Anakin called. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, trying to spot him among the mess, when his head popped up from behind a crate.

"Bantha jerky!" he cheered. "This is the most useful thing here, by far. I'm sick of rations."

"Well, don't eat it. We need to conserve our food," Obi-Wan said. He picked his way through the supplies and knelt next to Anakin. "Here. We should sort through this quickly."

The containers were unpacked and set aside in no time, most of the contents organized into piles that spread over a good portion of the clearing. Only six clone troopers had grabbed their backpacks before evacuating the city, and they now sat against the crates, ready to be filled with supplies with the exception of one belonging to the medic, Coric. Barely anything was in them: almost all the rations had been eaten and a lot of the gear destroyed or left behind on one battlefront or another. With the first step completed, Anakin was quick to see a new problem.

"There's no way we can carry all this," he said, gesturing at the unloaded provisions. "Even leaving behind the tents."

Obi-Wan frowned. "How much can we carry?"

"I would guess that each trooper's pack could carry enough for all of us to eat for two days: ten days total. But that'd be cutting it close."

He eyed the bags, and the crates they rested on. "And the containers?"

Anakin gave a grimace. "They don't have repulsors, and they're awkward to carry. I wouldn't want to bring them."

"But will they hold enough food to keep us from starving?" Obi-Wan asked pointedly.

"Well, yes."

"Good. I'd say two would do the job, yes?"

"I suppose." He sighed. "I was looking forward to a nice, easy hike, but that works too."

Obi-Wan shot him a sidelong glance. Anakin met his gaze and smirked, shirking his disappointment in an instant.

The end result of the packing process was less than desirable for many. Carrying enough food to sustain two squads – eighteen men – plus two Jedi was a feat in and of itself; then there were both water purifying canisters, the thermal blankets, about three-quarters of the vast array of medical supplies, twelve glowrods, the remnants of the flare kit, and the datapad. No one wanted to carry a cargo container, both of which had been stuffed to the brim and were sized so that one could just barely grab both handles at once without dislocating a shoulder, but they were satisfied to take shifts. Anakin had offered to take care of one container, a hard worker no matter how much he fooled around, and a begrudging pair of clones volunteered for a shift with the other.

Obi-Wan stood for a moment and looked at the neatly-packed bags and crates. He hadn't meant to bring so much. The more they sifted through all the things available to them, the more it seemed they shouldn't leave anything behind. When one thought about it, they all had the potential to be useful – perhaps some were overkill, like the set of vibroblades, but too many struck him as a sensible sort of overkill.

Somewhere, in the very back of his mind, for just an instant, he could appreciate Anakin's flippant attitude towards uncertainty. But he would never say so.

"Are we… ready to go then, sir?" asked Cody, who had come to stand next to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan paused to go through his mental checklist. "I suppose so."

"Yeah, I think we're all good," Anakin said, "but does anyone else get the feeling we forgot something?"

"Did you pack the datapad?" Rex called as he closed up the last pack.

"As a matter of fact, yes." He shot Obi-Wan a triumphant glance.

Obi-Wan shook his head, exasperated. "Alright. Call everyone together and get them briefed."

All the clones and the two Jedi gathered by the ship in a loose clump. Anakin did a headcount of his troops to make sure no one had disappeared. Obi-Wan's 212th Battalion had only Cody in the crowd – most of his troops had been called away early the day before to support Admiral Yularen's forces, under the assumption that their base in the south was safe. The few remaining hadn't made it back from the understaffed front lines before the evacuation.

They'd taken heavy losses in that final battle. And it was entirely possible that the other evacuation ship had been shot down along with theirs. Anakin hadn't expressed any displeasure with the orders that left them isolated and without sufficient forces, but none of it sat right with Obi-Wan. So soon after the betrayal of one of his sergeants, Slick, he couldn't help seeing the same patterns of bizarrely avoidable bad luck. He didn't think it likely that they had another spy in their ranks. Yet, by all logic, the Separatists should not have landed ships so far behind the real fighting. He vowed to take it up with Admiral Yularen when they arrived.

Anakin didn't convey much of a plan to the troops in the end but, to be fair, there wasn't much of one. A strategy required information, and that was the scarcest resource they had. "Carry all your stuff and try not to die," was the essence of their instructions, but Anakin had a knack for these sorts of briefings, and his legion had learned to lean into it.

He was finishing up now, handing out jobs to those who hadn't already gotten one. The meeting space emptied as he sent the clones away, one by one, leaving only Obi-Wan without an assigned task.

Anakin reached out his hand and lifted one of the cargo containers over to them. "Am I actually walking all day with this?" He set it down lightly. "I can't carry it with the Force all the time."

Obi-Wan guessed that it hadn't taken him much effort to lift it for a few seconds, but over such a long period it would become just as demanding as carrying it by hand, and more dangerous. The Force simply was not to be used for physical labour for hours and hours on end.

"Why don't we alternate shifts? You'll lift it for a bit, then I will, then we'll each grab a handle and carry it," he suggested.

"Sounds good," Anakin said. "But I call the left side, so I can use my cybernetic hand."

Cody and Rex walked up to the Jedi, helmets tucked under their arms.

"If you don't mind my asking, sir, where exactly are we going?" Cody asked Obi-Wan. "My navicomputer was broken in the crash."

"Hold on," Anakin said, bending down to rummage through the container. He pulled out the datapad. "I made sure to save those coordinates."

"Will that be specific enough? How will we know where to go, without a navicomputer?"

Anakin shrugged.

"Force help us," Obi-Wan muttered.

There was a pause as Anakin plotted the coordinates on a very basic grid, the only "map" available. "Alright… it looks like we're gonna have to go down. And right."

Obi-Wan shot him a pleading look.

"Fine, south and east," he scoffed. "But I would go south until we get to the right altitude. It'll be impossible to set an accurate course, but the ground is so flat we might be able to see Crystal City from far away."

"Either way, we should be able to sense a more exact location when we get closer. There are still lots of people left in the city."

Anakin nodded. He glanced up at the sky. "Which way does the sun travel here?"

"West to east," Rex spoke up. "It was part of the holo they showed us when we first got here."

"Not that it helps today, I guess. Too cloudy."

Anakin was right: it hadn't been so dark earlier in the morning, but now the sky was completely obscured by swollen bluish-grey clouds. Obi-Wan hoped it didn't start raining.

"It's alright. For today, it will do to walk in the approximate direction the ship came from," he said.

Anakin nodded again in agreement. "Then we should get started."

For a moment, no one moved. They steeled themselves, each waiting for someone else to break the silence. Obi-Wan's eyes wandered over Rex and Cody and settled on Anakin, who glanced up from the ground and met his gaze. Neither looked away.

Obi-Wan sensed all pretense melt away between them. For a fraction of a second, their shared eye contact was a whole nonverbal conversation. He saw unease on Anakin's face, or perhaps felt it somewhere in his own chest, and he frowned ever so slightly, surprised that the younger Jedi was… well, he didn't know what Anakin was doing, but it was unusual. Not once during their campaign on Christophsis had he expressed genuine, undisguised concern, or apprehension, or, Force forbid, regret for any of the various rash decisions he'd made. Anakin didn't get worried over missions, not even when they went as wrong as this one, and if he did then he didn't show it. Why was Obi-Wan seeing it now?

He reached farther into the fleeting bond between them, searching for an answer. Posing the unspoken question, What are you saying? But no answer came. Anakin, recognizing Obi-Wan's probing, drew back. His eyes narrowed imperceptibly, and Obi-Wan felt his mind slip away, closing off their connection, bringing the moment to an abrupt end.

Anakin turned away, as smoothly as if nothing had just happened, and gave Rex a slight smile. "We're off. Get everyone together."

Rex threw a salute. "Yes sir." He waved the troops over to the ship. "Alright men, grab your stuff! It's time to get outta here."

Obi-Wan blinked once, returning to the present. He stared, confused, at Anakin as he walked away without so much as a glance back. No one ever really knew what Anakin was thinking, he figured, but the other Jedi had seemed off ever since the failed evacuation; he was acting recklessly, even for him, he didn't seem to understand at all the gravity of their situation, and he was clearly avoiding any conversation beyond his usual banter. In Obi-Wan's opinion, his attitude could bring nothing but trouble. Did he not realize there were other lives at stake?

Well, he must. _Then, does he care?_ Obi-Wan wondered. No, that wasn't fair – he knew full well that his frustrations were misplaced. It didn't matter what else Anakin did, he would do his job, even if not in the most conventional way. That was never the cause of Obi-Wan's worries about his former Padawan, of which he had many. Right now he had no time for any of them. There were decisions to make, troops to be led, and if Anakin wasn't going to be much help then someone had to do it.

The clearing felt less empty as everyone sprung into motion at once, hurrying to get their assigned cargo. Conversations broke out among the clones, some jovial and others hushed nervously. Obi-Wan went over to the stack of crates and lifted one down with a grunt of effort, setting it down slowly. It was heavier than he had hoped – manageable with the help of the Force or Anakin, but awkward to lug around alone. Each side was about three feet long, making it so he could just reach the handles on either side. To his luck, it was also tall enough to pull across the loose dirt without having to bend over too much.

Anakin came up beside him, arms crossed casually, a slight smirk on his face that revealed no trace of their last interaction. Obi-Wan was beginning to think he'd imagined it.

"Need a hand?" he asked.

Obi-Wan stood up straight and winced at the dull ache in his lungs, a by-product of his efforts to pull Anakin out of the burning troop transport. "If you're not too busy."

They each grabbed one handle, and they carried the container to the ship where the others were gathering. Obi-Wan thought for a moment that the physical stress of carrying the crate might reopen Anakin's wound, but he showed no sign of pain and his limp had disappeared overnight. They'd been very lucky to get a ship loaded with supplies; otherwise, they wouldn't have had any bacta to treat the injuries.

"501st, listen up," Rex commanded. Cody stood at the front of the group beside him. "We have no working navigational equipment; we only know where we are and where we have to go. Today, we'll be walking in the direction we came from. Once the sun comes out again we can get a better course, but it doesn't look like that'll happen quite yet. Other than that, we're relying on the generals here to… sense the way back, or whatever they do."

This drew a light chuckle from the audience.

"Now, everybody make sure you have the things assigned to you," he continued, "and let's get out of here!"

A few people whooped and clapped, and Obi-Wan smiled at their enthusiasm. "Are you absolutely sure we have everything we need?" he asked, turning to Anakin.

"Obi-Wan, you were right there," he answered wryly. "You made us pack almost everything that wasn't burned to a crisp."

Obi-Wan huffed. "Fine. We should get up there, they're about to leave without us."

Anakin lifted the crate with the Force, just enough so it didn't drag, and joked, "They wouldn't dare!"

He guided it ahead of them, careful to avoid the clones' ankles as they followed Rex and Cody to the edge of the clearing. Obi-Wan saw Cody tap Rex on the arm and they paused and looked back, waiting for the Jedi to take the lead.

They got to the front of the pack and found that there were no good places to walk; the vegetation grew so thickly, Obi-Wan worried that the crates wouldn't be able to fit between the trees. Anakin simply shrugged and pushed his way through the branches, Rex on his tail. Obi-Wan shot a look at Cody, who sighed in return, and started picking his way more carefully behind them. The strange little trees grew closer together here than the other sides of the clearing, just dense enough that the occasional yelp of surprise could be heard over the conversation as a branch swatted someone in the face.

Obi-Wan pushed one out of his way and noticed how organic it was. He had sensed their vitality from his first moments in the clearing, but his senses had told him little about their physical properties. Although the foliage looked like it was carved from rigid gemstone when still, the trees bent and swayed like normal wood when brushed against. He slowed to examine them.

A thicker layer of mineral-rich soil covered roots that did indeed look more like they were covered in bark where they stuck out; green, blue, and purple-tinted bark, but bark nonetheless. The wood-like material lost its knobbly quality shortly after the point where the trunk left the soil, becoming translucent and faceted. Despite being somewhat flexible, the branches tended towards straight edges and looked much like the ground itself. A cloudy white fiber ran through the core of all but the very thinnest branches, from the uppermost reaches to the thicker heartwood near the base. There were no leaves to be seen, perhaps because the trees had no need for food sources above the ground.

Obi-Wan did not know how such an organism lived, but he wouldn't mind finding out. He had seen few things like it. A desire to do more research came over him – one of the many things for which war left little time. Unfortunately, in this case, he would be doing most of that research himself while walking hundreds of klicks back to the city.

He turned to the path to find that Anakin had dropped back beside him.

The younger Jedi shook his head. "Weird."

"Do you think they get taller than this?" Obi-Wan asked, picking up his pace to catch up.

"Maybe. Probably, if the roots dig down into the crystal deep enough to hold them up," Anakin offered.

Obi-Wan hummed contemplatively.

The more they walked, Obi-Wan watching the forest and Anakin walking quietly by his side, the further he fell into deep thought. He would have been perfectly happy to keep contemplating the Christophsian ecosystem, to take a walk in a forest for once. Or, at the least, he would have accepted a moment of inactivity to meditate on their situation. There were things amiss, and many more poised to go wrong. He could feel it, as if he were being watched, or cornered. He felt it like a claustrophobic tightness in his chest – which he supposed could also be the smoke inhalation. What exactly he was being told, he could only guess, but for some reason it struck him as something beyond their ability to handle.

The group had spaced themselves out along the trail to avoid the face-smackings. Anakin had found entertainment in a conversation with Rex in the time that Obi-Wan had been thinking, and they were laughing with a couple other clones near the front of the pack. Shifting his focus back to the present and the forest, he saw that Cody had fallen in line beside him and seemed to be waiting for him to notice.

Cody glanced at him briefly, making sure he wasn't interrupting before speaking. "General… I was just wondering, where were the others sent?" After a beat, "The Two Twelfth, I mean."

"To the north side of the city," Obi-Wan replied.

The commander looked almost disappointed. "That's where the Seppies gathered their tanks and heavy cannons, isn't it?"

"I believe so."

He looked away, brow furrowed. Obi-Wan watched as his mind worked, turning over this information. Without any further acknowledgement, he set his mouth in a line and returned his gaze to the forest floor. Obi-Wan turned away as well, not ending the conversation but recognizing that Cody would pick it up again.

He felt Cody's pause before he spoke again, a minute later.

"I've never had my troops split up before, sir."

"You're worried about them," Obi-Wan stated.

Cody didn't confirm, but he didn't have to. "Aren't you?"

He considered, briefly, lying to his commander. The opportunity to impart a lesson was clear, and it was an easy route to take. He decided honesty would be more helpful.

"Yes," he said simply. "I know you feel you should be there to look after them. It's a natural reaction. But have faith. They can handle themselves."

"I know, sir. It's just–" Cody sighed. "I can't help it."

"The admiral has his own commanding officers – it was better not to create ambiguity over who's in charge. Focus on the present," Obi-Wan cautioned. "We'll be of no use to them if we can't handle our own predicament."

He gave a nod that may have been a bit less than enthusiastic. "Of course, General."

The clone fell a step behind as Obi-Wan pushed a heavy branch out of the way. Looking away from Cody and back to their surroundings, where Anakin and Rex walked a couple meters ahead, it occurred to him that the forest had thinned out a lot since leaving the camp. The landscape, previously covered in snarls of underbrush, had given way to trees sparse enough that the other clones could spread out and walk without bending under branches, only the occasional bush to grab at their feet.

His eyes travelled further along, trying to see if the greenery would thicken again or continue to recede. Instead, barely noticeable at a distance of about a hundred meters, it seemed to stop entirely, like someone had planted a wall in their path. He squinted.

"Anakin," he called, slowing to a stop. Cody gave him a questioning look.

Anakin turned and walked back towards Obi-Wan, Rex following after a moment of hesitation.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Look." Obi-Wan pointed at the horizon. "Is it me, or are there no more trees over there?"

Anakin leaned forward and frowned. "Nope, you… could be right." He narrowed his eyes curiously and strode away, off to get a closer look.

"General Kenobi?" Coric had come to stand behind Obi-Wan, the other clones gathering behind him. "What's going on?"

"I suppose we should find out," Obi-Wan said, giving him a light smile before going after Anakin.

He walked quickly, closing the gap between them, and settled into a stride matching Anakin's. Footsteps crackled behind him as the troopers ran to catch up, muttering speculatively.

"This better not mess up my hike," Anakin grumbled.

"Your hike was ruined the moment we crashed in the middle of a forest," Obi-Wan retorted. "I wouldn't worry about it."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Maybe yours was. I'm still holding out."

Rex spoke a moment later. "I don't think there's ground over there either."

Obi-Wan strained to get a better look. He certainly hoped there was ground over there; he was no fan of heights. "It might be a ridge or a cliff of some sort. We must be seeing the clouds through the trees."

"Fantastic," Anakin remarked. "Who brought the carbon ropes?"

"We don't have carbon ropes, sir," said Rex.

"Oh, even better."

"Their ascension cables will work fine," Obi-Wan said. "I only hope it's not too tall for us to get down."

"I guess we're about to find out."

Every step afforded them a wider view of the overcast sky, the sun nothing more than a faint glow visible through the clouds and the canopy. Then, the first crystal spire jutted out from behind the ledge, appearing to hang in their field of vision, tangibly massive even from a distance of kilometers and shining dully against its grey backdrop; and then a second appeared, tilting precariously, and a third and fourth and then all at once there were too many to count. The tips of dozens, perhaps hundreds of the monoliths breached the horizon and stood stoic. No one made a sound, a heavy silence falling over the group.

Obi-Wan found himself standing feet from the edge of a towering precipice, staring out over an endless landscape of those emerald pillars and, far, far below, the hexagonal plates that made up the surface of the gemstone planet.

Suddenly, the sight of ground wasn't so comforting.


End file.
